


The Universe Would Stay

by rex101111



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Kissing, One Shot, Post-Canon, She-ra final made me feel things, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, after the final, every one is happy and hugging and that is canon, this shit is sweet have it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25726468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rex101111/pseuds/rex101111
Summary: Adora wakes up to see the world is healing. (quick snippet of what might be to come, with more than a little lingering on what is right now)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), all except the first are implied but they're all here and cuddling don't you worry
Comments: 5
Kudos: 66





	The Universe Would Stay

**Author's Note:**

> She-Ra final was months ago and I'm still stricken with feels, have this short thing

The first night after…everything, was loud and blurry. The next morning all Adora could really remember clearly about it was that Seahawk _might_ have lit something on fire and that she _probably_ kissed Catra somewhere around a dozen times before they were all partied out.

Less clear were images of Scorpia lifting about four people on her shoulders and dancing with a pink blur that was most likely Perfuma (with the people still on her shoulders), Entrapta building _something_ with Hordak and Wrong Hordak that caught fire almost immediately, and Glimmer doing **_something_** that would have made Angella ground her for a week and made Micha shed a tear of pride. Kyle and Rogelio were also there. She thinks. There was a huge lizard guy making out with some tiny dude and that can’t describe too many other people she knows, but she knew better than to assume.

The rest of the night was just a big blob of noise and light and _oh thank fuck we actually survived all that_ that made Adora smile as she woke with a mild headache and a warmth pressed to her side. Looking down, she saw something she barely allowed herself to dream about, Catra, purring in her sleep as she hugged her tightly around her waist.

Her tail was wrapped around her leg, every inch of the magicat making contact with her. If her wounds from the fight against the Heart and what Prime threw her way didn’t still pulse with a dull ache, she’d be _certain_ this was a dream. Just a fantasy she cooked up in her head because the world felt too lonely and too cold without the feeling of Catra’s rough fur rubbing against her.

Bow and Glimmer helped her more than they would ever understand by sleeping together with her, by helping to keep the loneliness at bay long enough for her to fall asleep. Feeling Catra by her side after all this time, after all that heartbreak, it was a piece of her that broke off and now suddenly back with her again.

_“I love you! I always have!”_

It was surreal, maybe it was testament to her own low opinion of herself, but she could never have expected Catra to say _anything_ like that. But, here she was, in love, safe, _finally back home, finally back **with her.**_

Catra snuggled closer to her, almost in response to her thoughts, her purring rumbling out of her chest and sinking into Adora’s still aching muscles. Adora patted Catra’s fur with a soft smile, keeping quiet so this moment could last a bit longer.

As she threaded her fingers through Catra’s hair, she looked around to take stock of her surroundings for the first time since she woke up. They were in the large party tent the rebellion had set up for the celebration, and all around she could see her friends and the various people who have fought and won that gruesome battle.

Scorpia was bear hugging a snoring Perfuma, who did not seem to mind in the slightest, while Frosta was draped over her head like a dog on a couch. The three of them were utterly at peace with the world, goofy grins on their unconscious faces as they dreamed about something pleasant. Both of Perfuma’s hands were holding one of Scorpia’s pincers with a degree of gentleness that was at once a bit surprising and not surprising at all.

She hadn’t known Scorpia for very long in the grand scheme of things, but Adora quickly learned how loyal and friendly she was during the fighting after she broke the sword. Considering how often they fought each other before it was still a bit of a shock how easy it was to simply trust Scorpia, she just had the kind of face you couldn’t hate for long.

Some of the things she said about Catra gave her pause at the time, and even now, knowing how far they had all come, Catra especially, she was surprised to see Scorpia even agreeing to be in the same room as the magicat.

Another memory from last night came back to her, of Scorpia and Catra in some secluded corner talking in hushed tones about something she couldn’t catch. Months earlier the sight would have kept her up at night with suspicion, but then Scorpia put a pincer on Catra’s shoulder with a sad smile, to which Catra answered with a regretful nod, and Adora quickly looked away in the interest of giving the two some privacy.

She didn’t ask Catra about it, but she seemed a bit clingier for a few minutes before letting out a deep sigh and straightening her back and rejoining the party in full force.

Adora learned that straining and poking at wounds never helped them to heal, so she’ll just let this matter drop for now. Catra knows she can ask for help if she really needs it.

Adjusting her gaze westwards, she saw Seahawk laying on the floor with Mermista pressed to his side. Adora had long learned that Mermista had a case of resting bitch face, despite how generally warm and kind she was, and that extended even to when she slept. And indeed she _was_ scowling, even as her arms stayed wound tight around Seahawk and she leaned her forehead into his neck.

Usually it was a bit funny, but there was something a bit tense about the scowl she had as she slept, her form shaking just a bit. Adora quickly put together why with a glance at her neck and the bandage that covered it. Another look at Scorpia and she sees the same bandage, and on the same on Spinnerlla, and Micha, and so many more people around her that she knows will have scars of various kinds that won’t ever fully fade away.

She brushes a finger over the back of Catra’s neck, feels that patch of puckered skin where once something evil beyond words stitched itself into her soul and brought something ugly with it. Catra doesn’t flinch away from her touch, or whimper in her sleep, and a bit of her faith that the universe is kind is restored.

Seahawk tightens his one armed hug on Mermista, and her shaking stops. He cracks his eyes open less than an inch, his gaze is soft and lacking the manic, fiery energy he usually has in abundance, something quiet and calm in its place. He leans down to kiss her furrowed brow and Adora looks away.

Her ears, still buzzing with the magic of Etheria and still stronger than she’s used to, pick up on him whispering, “You’re safe dearest…I promise.” And she has to swallow the urge to break the silence to say she’s sorry for intruding.

In another corner of the tent, the furthest away from anyone else, are Entrapta and Hordak, the former despot laying on his side while the princess hugged him from behind, her long purple hair wrapped around his limbs. Adora was the one who freed him from Prime’s control, but she was still unsure of how to feel about the man. He hurt her, hurt her friends, hurt so many people for so long…and yet, Entrapta saw something beautiful there. Considering the warmth at her side, she decided she could hardly judge the princess for loving someone with more than a few sins to repent for.

He was willing to change, wiling to fix what he destroyed, willing to offer his neck if that’s what was demanded of him, he told her and Catra as much, and Adora figured that was enough. Though she hoped, for Entrapta’s sake if nothing else, that he would be offered some measure of mercy. The war was over, for all of them, stewing in past pain would do none of them any good.

Wrong Hordak (and _man_ do they need to come up with a better name for him at some point) sprung up from behind the two and wrapped them both up in a hug, a goofy grin on his face. Hordak grumbled, but Entrapa chuckled quietly and had her hair wrap around them both, which quickly put them all back to sleep.

Despite whatever history she had with him, even she had to admit that was a little adorable. 

There’s a sight like that no matter where she looked, people hugging in their sleep or mumbling something miserable or whispering assurances she had no right to hear and she never, _ever_ believed in miracles but dozens of them were spread out in front of her in the shape of people who survived and impossible to deny.

The last thing she catches before her heart can’t take anymore is Glimmer and Bow, they’re in a far off corner, leaning on a turned over table. Glimmer is in Bow’s lap, her arms around his neck while he hugged her waist. She caught _them_ kissing last night too and honestly that was the most surprising thing about the entire night, even more than that whole “saving the world and surviving” bit. She teased them about it mercilessly, just as viciously as they teased her and Catra, and in remembering it she realizes she had never been as happy as she is right now.

She loves them, she isn’t sure she ever really loved people the same way she loved those two before they met in the Whispering Woods fighting over a sword that carried the fate of a war. They were family in a way she never really knew before then, filling up a space in her heart that not even Catra could. They saw the best in her and saw through her bullshit and pulled her up when she so desperately wanted to sink down.

They made her better, these two weird and awkward and wonderful people, they made her stronger, kinder. She didn’t deserve them and she would never let them go and she is so deliriously _happy_ that they found something in each other too. After everything they all went through, after everything they lost, they deserved to gain something.

“Adora…” Catra mumbled quietly, whatever irritation she tried to display mitigated by her snuggling closer to her, “you’re thinking too loudly, shut up…”

In response Adora returned the embrace, pairing it with a kiss on the crown of Catra’s head, smiling into Catra’s hair when she felt her purring as she did. “Did I wake you up?”

“Nah…” Catra yawned, her tail unwrapping from Adora’s leg to circle her waist, “been awake for a while…just wanted to…” She blushed deeply enough for it to show through her fur, starting to mumble as she went on. “…you know…”

Adora nearly cried but just barely managed to control her voice to giggle warmly, “stay.” She whispered, one hand rubbing soothing circles on Catra’s back while another went to wind it’s fingers with the magicat’s. “Stay as long as you want, Catra.”

Catra smiled, opening her eyes a bitto look up at Adora, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss on her lips. “…You’ll stay, too?” She asked, barely above a whisper, something scared but hopeful in her tone, “you’ll stay here? With me?” Her voice trembled a bit, something fragile seeping in, “…promise?”

Adora did cry a little now, but smiled wider as she kissed her back. “Always.” Her hand squeezed Catra’s fingers, trying to banish every quiet and cold night they spent apart from her mind to replace it with the warmth she felt now. “I promise.”

Catra laughed, something between relief and incredulity, a few tears slipping down her cheeks, before kissing Adora deeply, both of her arms winding around her waist to join her tail.

Somewhere, outside the tent, the sun began slowly raising, quietly marking the start of the first new day, the first new _free_ day, in Etheria in decades. Madam Razz tending to her pies in the forest, took a whiff of her work and smiled.

She left the victory party first so she would wake up early enough to get to baking as quickly as she could. Adora and her friends had another long adventure on the horizon, the least she could do was make sure they had enough food for the journey.

A wind came in from the Whispering Woods, and lightly rattled her shack. Razz laughed loudly, “oh simmer down!” She admonished with no small amount of affection, “I’ll get to waking them up later, let the children rest!” Her smile grew softer, “they’ve earned more than their fair, wouldn’t you say, Mara?”

Another wind, quieter and gentler, came in again, ruffling her cloak.

She laughed and put one more pie in the oven, the sunlight slowly trickling into her window.

The day would begin soon enough, another journey, another story, would surely come once more creep over the horizon, with its own challenges and trials, for all of them.

For now, Adora and Catra savored the peace they well and truly earned.

The universe could wait, and it would not vanish from them if they turned away for a moment. It would not move on if they just stopped for a moment to catch their breath and gather their bearings.

They know, truly, that at least for now, at least for the moment, that the universe would stay.


End file.
